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Amazon DynamoDB alternatives: Azure, Google Cloud and open source

DynamoDB stays fast however large it gets.

The database you choose when you know the question in advance and will ask it a hundred million times.

  • From my own projects
  • Sources linked
  • Updated September 2026

The same job on four platforms

The same task, a different bill and a different console. The layer does not change.

AWS

Amazon DynamoDB[1]

DynamoDB stays fast however large it gets.

AWS documentation →[2]

Microsoft Azure

Azure Cosmos DB[3]

Official documentation →

Google Cloud

Bigtable[4]

Official documentation →

Firestore (document shape)[5]

Official documentation →

Open source / run it yourself

Apache Cassandra[6]

Wide-column database on your own machines, Apache 2.0.

ScyllaDB[7]

Cassandra- and DynamoDB-compatible and fast. Since the end of 2024 it is source-available, not open source.

What Amazon DynamoDB does

You sendA key, and an item. You design the table around the query
Amazon DynamoDB

DynamoDB stays fast however large it gets.

You get backThe item, in single-digit milliseconds, at any scale
What it costsPer request, or per provisioned capacity. On demand really does cost nothing when idle.
Who operates itAWS runs all of it. There is no instance, no version and no maintenance window.
When it is the wrong choiceWhen you do not yet know the questions. A relational database forgives a changed mind; this one does not.

AWS calls it: “Serverless, fully managed, distributed NoSQL database with single-digit millisecond performance at any scale”[1]

How I use it

Pipeline and job state. It is also the usual home for agent session state, where each key is one conversation.

AI use cases on AWS →All AWS services in my projects →
Linda Mohamed

Linda Mohamed, AI and cloud consultant and AWS Community Hero in Vienna. I build these pipelines for clients and teach them at FH Burgenland.

Read more on ai-solutions.wiki

My open knowledge base, with longer comparisons and more sources.

Questions

What is the Azure equivalent of Amazon DynamoDB?

Azure Cosmos DB.

What is the Google Cloud equivalent of Amazon DynamoDB?

Bigtable; Firestore (document shape).

What is the open-source alternative to Amazon DynamoDB?

Apache Cassandra: Wide-column database on your own machines, Apache 2.0. ScyllaDB: Cassandra- and DynamoDB-compatible and fast. Since the end of 2024 it is source-available, not open source.

How is Amazon DynamoDB billed?

Per request, or per provisioned capacity. On demand really does cost nothing when idle.

When should you not use Amazon DynamoDB?

When you do not yet know the questions. A relational database forgives a changed mind; this one does not.

Sources

  1. Amazon DynamoDB product page. https://aws.amazon.com/dynamodb/
  2. Amazon DynamoDB documentation. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerguide/Introduction.html
  3. Azure Cosmos DB documentation. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cosmos-db/introduction
  4. Bigtable documentation. https://cloud.google.com/bigtable/docs
  5. Firestore (document shape) documentation. https://cloud.google.com/firestore/docs
  6. Apache Cassandra. https://cassandra.apache.org/
  7. ScyllaDB. https://www.scylladb.com/source-available-faq/
  8. Amazon DynamoDB: Fully Managed NoSQL Database, ai-solutions.wiki. https://ai-solutions.wiki/tools/amazon-dynamodb/
  9. Azure Cosmos DB: Globally Distributed Multi-Model Database, ai-solutions.wiki. https://ai-solutions.wiki/tools/azure-cosmos-db/
  10. DynamoDB vs OpenSearch for AI Applications, ai-solutions.wiki. https://ai-solutions.wiki/comparisons/dynamodb-vs-opensearch/
  11. Linda Mohamed, course slides “The projects”, MASE-3, FH Burgenland, September 2026.

Links checked September 2026. Product names and availability change: check the linked pages before you decide.

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